Shoe-supporting and clamping mechanism



March 24, 1936. .F. 1 BRANDT SHOE SUPPORTING AND CLAMPING MECHANISM Original Filed June 28, 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet l March 24, 1936. 'BRANDT' 2,034,741

SHOE SUPPORTING AND CLAMPING MECHANISM Original Filed June 28, 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Mar. 24, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT @FFME SHOE-SUPPORTING AND CLAWING MECHANISM @riginal application .lune 28, 1932, Serial No. 619,707. Divided and this application August 3, 1934, Serial No. 738,304

23 Claims.

This invention relates to mechanism for supporting and clamping together a shoe and a heel, and, though not thus limited in its scope, is of special utility in connection with the holding of shoe-parts assembled during the insertion of a screw or other temporary fastener which may be utilized to retain them during the drying of an interposed adhesive. The present case is a division of the application led in my name on June 28, 1932, bearing the Serial No. 619,707.

An object of the invention is to so support shoe-parts, including a heel and an associated last, when the latter is present within the shoe, that they may, for heels or different heights, be presented advantageously under the control of a convenient adjusting means to drilling or fastener-turning instrumentalities. To this end, a member having a curved retaining surface may receive at different points contact of a treadengaging member which it is to hold in adjusted relation, as diiierently inclined to the vertical. This retaining surface may be the toothed periphery of an eccentric. Herein a mechanism of this character is disclosed as applied to both a shoe-tread-engaging member or shoe-supporting plate, and a heel-engaging member or gage, which, by contact with the rear of the heel, so locates the work upon the plate that for heels of diierent heights it will properly receive the 3 action of a clamping member. The retaining member, as the eccentric just mentioned, is movable by one of the engaging members and acts upon the other. By this means an adjustment of one member is caused to position its companion correctly. I provide for a variation of the location of the heel-gage relatively to the treadengaging member or plate to cause it to best cooperate with heels of different heights. For this purpose, there is preferably mounted for independent movement upon the tread-engaging member a supporting member for the gage and a positioning member. There is means, as a screw threaded through the outer or positioning member and contacting with the inner or supporting member for imparting the movement of the former member to the latter, and for altering the space between them and therefore the relation of the gage and the work which it positions to the clamping means. The height of the gage upon the supporting member is also preferably variable to change its relation to the heel-seatend of the heel. This adjustment is shown as obtained by a screw carrying the gage and threaded through the supporting member. The space-varying screw previously mentioned may be utilized to lock the gage-screw by contact with it.

A further object of the invention is to insure that when clamping pressure is applied to the work there shall be no rearward displacement of the heel relatively to the heel-seat. In the attainment of this object, the shoe-tread-engaging member has a yieldable Vheel-tread-engaging portion arranged in a novel manner. Consequently, when the clamping pressure is applied, as to the cone of the last in a shoe being operated upon, and the inclined rear wall of the heel is forced against the gage by the sinking of the heel-tread into the yieldable material, the movement oi said wall over the gage will produce a forward thrust. This will urge the breastedge of the heel against the breast-cut customarily present in the outsole of the shoe. I prefer to mount the yieldable material upon an extension from the gage-supporting member over the shoe-tread-supporting member, so it m-ay be ad- 20 justed with said gage in its lateral movement. Firm engagement between the heel-breast-edge and the sole-cut may further be insured by furnishing the clamping bar with a peripherally toothed portion for contact with the face of the 25 last-cone, said portion being rotatable upon the bar and eccentric thereto. This, when pressure is applied to the work, exerts a force rearwardly as well as downwardly to hold the breastcut in the sole against the heel and said heel against the gage.

The invention will be understood from a description of a particular embodiment thereof illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a view in side elevation of a machine 35 to which my improved mechanism is applied;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged view in side elevation, partly in section, of the last-, shoeand heelclamping means;

Fig. 3 is an end elevation corresponding to Fig. 2; and

Fig. 4 is a view in front elevation of the treadle mechanism for operating the shoeand heelclamping means. 45

'I'he illustrated machine comprises a table I0 and a standard I2 mounted on a base I4. The table is provided with means including a treadplate or work-support I6 and a clamping bar I8 for respectively supporting a lasted shoe Il and 50 holding a heel I9 in place thereon during the operation of inserting a fastener through the heel-seat into the heel. The standard I2 carries a fastener-inserting or driving tool 20, together with an electric motor 22 for actuating said tool. 55

The tread-plate I6 is shaped to engage the tread-face of the forepart of the sole of the shoe I'I and is provided with a pad 24 of rubber or other yieldable material which engages the treadface of the heel I9. The tread-plate is mounted for angular adjustment to correctly position for co-operation with heels of different heights the shoe with a contained last L. Through a vertical bore in the cone of the last a screw fastener 26 is to be inserted to clamp the heel and the shoe in assembled relation. For its adjustment, the plate is pivoted for vertical oscillation to a bracket 28 by a pin 36, the bracket being adjustably mounted on the table Iil by a post 32. This post is secured to the bracket by a set-screw 34 and is maintained adjustably in a depending portion of the table by another set-screw 36. Mounted below the pin 36 to turn in the bracket 28 is a horizontal shaft 38 which carries an eccentric toothed retaining segment 46 fixed to the shaft by a set-screw 42. The bottom of the plate I6 is provided with a downwardly extending lug 44 having a hole to receive a pawl 46. The pawl is arranged to engage the eccentric toothed periphery of the segment 40 to maintain the plate I6 in adjusted position, as will hereinafter be more particularly described.

The outer end of the plate I6 is provided with a slot 48 in which a gage 56 is mounted for adjustably determining the position of the heel I9, and consequently the top of the last-cone, relatively to the clamping bar I8. The gage is secured to the upper extremity of a screw 58 threaded vertically through a slide or supporting member 54 arranged to slide in the slot 48. By turning the gage, and thus shifting it with the screw up or down, its height may be varied and consequently the distance from the heel-seat-end of the heel to be clamped of the area with which the gage contacts. This provides for leaving a space at which the operator may grasp the heel while introducing the work into the apparatus. Also movable in the slot 48, outside the member 54 and independently thereof, is a gage-positioning slide-block 52 through which is threaded horizontally a screw 56 having an end-portion entering an opening in the supporting member for engagement with a flattened side of the screw 58. When the work is clamped by the bar I8 and the inner supporting member is forced back toward the positioning block, this engagement between the screws 58 and 56 locks the former and the gage 50 in their adjusted positions for each complete rotation of the screw 58 and also alters the heellocating position of the support 54. The block 52 is joined by an actuating link 66 to the segment 40, so by moving the block in the slot the segment may be turned about the axis of the shaft 38. The eccentricity or contour of the toothed edge of the segment is such that, to whatever angle the plate I6 may be turned about the axis of the pin 30 to correctly present the fastener-hole in the last to the tools which are to operate upon the fastener, a corresponding relation will be established between the gage 56 and the clamping bar'IB, so when the work is positioned with a heel against the gage said bar will properly engage the end of the last-cone to bring the direction of the engagement of the bar I8 will be correct for different lasts and different types of heels, the screw 56 is turned, thus furnishing a variable stop for the outward operating position of the support 54. Separation of the support from the block by inward movement along the slot 48 frees the screw 58 from the screw 56, so the former screw with the gage which it carries may be vertically adjusted. When the operator wishes to change the angle of the plate I6 to arrange for operation upon a diierent height of heel, one of said heels held upon the heelseat of a shoe is placed upon the yieldable pad 24 of the plate with its rear wall against the gage 58. Then the plate is lifted, for example by the screw 56, so the pawl 46 leaves the notch which it has engaged in the segment 48. By moving the slides 52 and 54 the link 66 may be caused to turn the segment until it is fully clear of the pawl for the various angles which the plate may assume. The plate may thereupon be adjusted to the desired angular relation, o-r so the last-bore which receives the fastener 26 is approximately vertical, when the operator again moves the slide to bring the segment into retaining engagement with the pawl. This automatically so locates the gage 50, and thereby the heel with the lasted shoe held against it, that the end of the last-cone will receive contact of the clamping bar I8 Well within its edge, yet clear of the last-bore and the tools which are to operate in connection with it. Or the locating steps may be taken, in part, reversely. That is, when a change of the heel-height occurs and with the work in place as before, the operator, after freeing the segment 40 by lifting the plate I6, may move the slides 52 and 54 until he sees that the top of the cone of the last is in the desired relation to the bar I8.A Then, on dropping,v the plate, the segment will have been so posi.

tioned through the link 66 that when the pawl enters between two segment-teeth the plate I6 will be xed at the desired angle. 'I'he heel-en;- gaging surface of the gage 50 is preferably pro` vided with a felt pad or any other soft covering 60 to prevent injury to the heel-cover. When the shoe I1 is clamped to the supporting plate I6 by the bar I8, the heel I9 will move downwardly compressing the pad 24 and being forced against the felt surface 60 of the gage 50. This not only holds the heel I9 firmly against lateral displacement, but also, by the thrust of its inclined rear surface against the gage as the pad 24 yields, wedges it forward against the usual breast-cut in the sole of the shoe. The pad 24 is shown as carried by an inward extension 62 from the support 54, so the support, pad and heel may all be adjusted together.

The clamping bar I8 is located above the table I0 and is mounted for movement toward and from the tread-plate I6 to clamp against it andj the gage 50 the lasted shoe I'I and the heel I9 in assembled relation. The bar is adapted to engage and apply this clamping pressure to the cone of the last L and for this purpose is provided centrally of its length with an eccentric serrated contact-portion 68 rotatable on the bar through a limited angle. As this portion 68 tends to turn anticlockwise as viewed in Fig. 2 under the influence of the clamping force, it becomes effective to urge the breast-cut in the shoe-sole against the heel and said heel against the gage 56. A pair of links I8, 'i2 are offset toward the toe-end of the tread-plate I6 to allow adequate space for the operator in positioning the shoe am for clamping, and these links carry the bar I8 at their upper extremities. Between their ends the links are pivoted at 14 to arms 16 of a U- shaped bracket mounted in a hollow bearing member 18 surrounding the post 32. At their lower ends the links 10, 12 are secured to arms 80 of a yoke 82 (Fig. 5) which is pivotally mounted on a spindle 84 carried by a bracket 86 secured to the lower extremity of a sleeve 88 depending from the table. It will be observed that the arms 80 are substantially longer than the arms 16. By

' this arrangement, whenever the links and clamping barare moved upwardly by the arms 80, said links are also rocked about the connection 14 with the arms 16 to carry the clamping bar toward the toe-end of the shoe I1 to an inoperative position, in which the bar will not interfere with the operator in placing a shoe within the clamp or removing one therefrom. The upward and inward or inoperative position of the bar I8 is adjustably determined by a stop 89 threaded through a portion of the yoke 82 and which engages an abutment 80 formed on the bracket B6.

The links 10, 12 are rocked to operate the above-described clamping mechanism by yielding adjustable connections from a treadle 92. A helical spring 94 extends between the treadle and the yoke 82. The upper end of the spring is secured to a rod 96 between the arms 80 of 'the yoke and its lower end to a member 98 having a slot through which extends'a pin |00 secured to the treadle. The lower end of the slotted member 98 is provided with an adjusting screw |02 by means of which the tension of the spring may be changed. Attached to the rod 96 is a treadle-rod |64 which is provided with an open slot in its lower end for the reception of the pin |00 on the treadle S2. Mounted on said treadle 92 is a locking treadle |06 which carries a pawl |08 arranged to engage a stationary rack ||0 when the clamping bar I8 is in operating position. A spring ||2 secured to the treadle |06 and to a cross-bar mounted in the machineframe or base I4 serves to hold the pawl |08 in engagement with the teeth on the rack and, after clamping pressure has been released, to return the bar to its inactive position.

When the operator depresses the treadle 92, the clamping bar I8, through the arms 80 of the yoke 82 and the links 10, 12, is rocked toward the cone of the last by the spring 94, and when the treadle has been moved a distance suicient to obtain the necessary pressure, the pawl |08 engages the teeth on the rack to retain the bar in its clamping relation. After the operation has been performed, as by the tool 20, the operator depresses the treadle 92 slightly and then the treadle |06 to disengage the pawl. Both treadles are thereupon moved upwardly under the influence of the spring 94 until the pin |00 strikes the end of the slot in the rod |04. At this time the pawl has passed beyond the teeth on the rack, and the treadle 92 and the clamping bar I8 connected thereto are swung into inactive position by the spring ||2. Under some conditions the operator may prefer not to thus lock the clamping devices in position but to stand on the treadle until the operation to be performed on the shoe has been completed.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In shoe-supporting mechanism, a member having a curved retaining surface, and a shoetread-engaging member, said members being relatively movable to cause retaining contact between them at different points upon the curved surface.

2. In shoe-supporting mechanism, an angularly adjustable shoe-tread-engaging member, and a rotatable member having an eccentric retaining surface for contact with the tread-engaging member.

3. In shoe-supporting mechanism, an angularly movable shoe-tread-engaging member, a heelengaging member movable upon the tread-engaging memberVand a member movable with one of the engaging members and acting .upon the other to retain it in position.

4. In shoe-supporting mechanism, an angular= ly movable shoe-tread-engaging member, a heelengaging member movable upon the tread-engaging member, a rotatable retaining member for the tread-engaging member, and connections to the heel-engaging member by which the retaining member may be turned.

5. In shoe-supporting mechanism, an angularly movable shoe-tread-engaging member, a heelengaging member movable upon the tread-engaging member, and a rotatable member movable with the heel-engaging member and having a retaining surface for the tread-engaging member, contact of the tread-engaging member with the retaining surface at different points establishing different predetermined relations between the two engaging members.

6. In shoe-supporting mechanism, an angularly adjustable shoe-tread-engaging member provided with a projection, and a member having a toothed eccentric periphery movable to present different tooth spaces to the projection.

7. In shoe-supporting mechanism, a movable plate for engagement with the tread-face of a forepart of a shoe, a heel-gage movable on the plate, a rotary eccentric for maintaining the plate in adjusted position, and connections to the heel-gage for rotating the eccentric.

8. In a support for a lasted shoe, a clamping member for engagement with the cone of the last, an angularly adjustable support for the tread-face of the shoe-sole and its heel,. and a rotary eccentric for maintaining the support in adjusted position relatively to the clamping member.

9. In a support for a lasted shoe, a clamping member for engagement with the cone of the last, an angularly adjustable support for the treadsurface of the shoe-sole, a gage movable on the support and arranged to engage the rear wall of the shoe-heel, and an eccentric for simultaneously determining the angular position of the support and the location of the gageV upon the support.

10. In shoe-supporting mechanism, a shoetread-engaging member, a positioning member and a supporting member mounted for movement independently of each other upon the tread-engaging member, a heel-gage carried by the supporting member, and means for imparting movement of the positioning member to the supporting member and for varying the space between said members.

11. In shoe-supporting mechanism, a shoetread-engaging member, a positioning member and a supporting member mounted for movement independently of each other upon the tread-engaging member, a heel-gage carried by the supporting member, means for imparting movement of the positioning member to the supporting member and for varying the space between said members, and means arranged to vary the height of the heel-gage upon the supporting member.

12. In shoe-supporting mechanism, a shoetread-engaging member, a positioning member and a supporting member mounted for movement independently of each other upon the tread-engaging member, a heel-gage carried by the supporting member, means for imparting movement of the positioning member to the supporting member and for varying the space between the members, and means arranged to vary the height of the heel-gage upon the supporting member, the space-varying means being effective to lock the height-varying means in its adjusted relation.

' 13. In shoe-supporting mechanism, a shoetread-plate, an inner and an outer slide movable upon the plate, a heel-gage carried by the inner slide, actuating connections to the outer slide, and a member movable upon the outer slide and contacting with the inner slide to vary the space between them.

14. In shoe-supporting mechanism, a shoetread-plate, an inner and an outer slide movable upon the plate, a heel-gage carried by the inner slide, actuating connections to the outer slide, and a screw threaded through the outer slide and spacing the inner slide variably therefrom.

15. In shoe-supporting mechanism, a shoetread-plate, an inner and an outer slide movable upon the plate, a heel-gage-screw threaded vertically through the inner slide, actuating connections to the outer slide, and a screw threaded horizontally through the outer slide and contacting with the gage-screw to lock it against rotation.

16. In shoe-supporting mechanism, a member having a curved retaining surface, a shoe-treadengaging member, Said members being relatively movable to cause retaining contact between them at diierent points upon the curved surface, a supporting member and a positioning member movable upon the tread-engaging member, a heel-gage carried by the supporting member, and connections for moving the retaining member from the positioning member. 17. In shoe-supporting mechanism, a pivoted plate for engagement with the tread-face of a forepart of a shoe, a retaining member for maintaining the plate in adjusted position, an inner and an outer slide movable upon the plate, connections to the outer slide for locating the retaining member, a heel-gage variable in position upon the inner slide, and a member movable upon the outer slide and contacting with the inner slide for varying the space between the two slides.

18. In a shoe-supporting mechanism, a pivotedplate Vfor engagement with the tread-face of a forepart of a shoe, an eccentric for maintaining the plate in adjusted position, an inner and an outer slide movable upon the plate, connections to the outer slide for locating the eenen-5 tric, a screw threaded through the inner slide, a heel-gage carried by the screw, and a screw threaded through the outer slide and contacting with the heel-gage-screw.

19. In mechanism for clamping together a shoe. l10 and a heel, a shoe-tread-engaging member, a supporting member movable thereon and provided With an extension over the tread-engaging member, a yieldable heel-tread-engaging member carried by the extension, a heel-gage carried '15 by the supporting member, and means for forcing the shoe and heel toward the yieldable member and toward the gage.

20. In mechanism for clamping upon a shoe a heel having an inclined rear wall, a shoe-tread- 20 engaging member having a yieldable heel-treadengaging portion, a movable gage With which the inclined wall of the heel contacts, means for moving the shoe and heel and the heel-tread-engaging portion and gage relatively to force the shoe 25 and heel together, and a retaining member arranged to determine both the position of the tread-engaging member and of the gage.

21. In mechanism for clamping upon a lasted shoe a heel having an inclined rear wall, a shoe- 30 tread-engaging member having a yieldable heeltread-engaging portion, a gage with which the inclined Wall of the heel contacts, a pressure member acting upon the cone of the last to urge the tread-face of the heel into the yieldable -35 portionand the inclined wall of said heel against the gage, and a rotatable eccentric receiving contact of the tread-engaging member and connected to the gage.

22. In mechanism for clamping together a lasto ed shoe and a heel, a shoeand heel-support, and a movable pressure bar, said bar having a toothed portion for contact with the face of the last-cone and being rotatable upon the bar with its conl tact periphery eccentric thereto, the applied pres- 45 sure tending to rotate the toothed portion.

23. In mechanism for clamping together a lasted shoe and a heel, a shoeand heel-support,

a movable pressure bar, said bar having a toothed portion for contact with the face of the last- 50 cone and being rotatable upon the bar with its contact periphery eccentric thereto, the applied pressure tending to rotate the toothed portion, and a gage toward which the rear wall of the heel is forced by rotary tendency of the toothed 55 portion.

FRANCIS L. BRANDT. 

